by Molly Ringle
***
After their blissful Valentine lunch in the Airstream, Adrian and Sophie returned to the Underworld for a wander through the fields and orchards. They allowed their friends to rib them about being all lovey-dovey together again. Sophie talked about the plants as they walked, in the animated way he’d missed so much—which trees or herbs had which powers, and which ones she’d managed to dig up specimens of and move to hiding places just in case. She broke off leaves and fruits and flowers to show him how they looked or smelled up close, reviving dozens of memories in his mind. She sounded like a woman with an avid interest in life again, which was the greatest of all the gifts that had fallen into his hands lately.
They flew back to the Airstream for a long romantic evening, and even got to sleep in the next morning. But on the fifteenth, while freshly showered and eating lunch with Sophie on his lap, his phone buzzed with a message from Niko.
Mars on the move, w/ group going to mainland. OK there must be something happening w/ disguises or spells here b/c Freya says Jupiter is one of them too, but we don’t recognize them by sight.
Adrian and Sophie exchanged frowns. Jupiter was their code name for Tracy.
“So Krystal and Tracy and some others are coming this way, but in awesome disguises?” Sophie said.
“I guess.” Adrian had lost his appetite. He thumbed in a response: OK. Standing by. Keep us posted.
He sighed and indulged in a lingering kiss before shifting Sophie off his lap. “Suppose I better make sure the ghost army’s ready.”
Worry clouded her green-brown eyes. “But you’ll come back here for the night. Promise?”
“Promise. Let’s send for Tab to stay with you in the meantime.”
He did so, and took off for the Underworld as soon as Tab arrived. He left Kiri with her too, for extra protection. Rather than diving straight into the cave, he reined in his spirit horse and landed just outside the cave mouth. He unhooked the carabiners that held up the rope ladder, and let the whole thing drop down into the entrance. Might as well not give Thanatos an easy way in, if they did manage to switch realms outside the cave. If they switched inside—well, that was what the ghost army was for.
He swung back onto his horse, then paused. Some movement out among the oak trees had caught his eye. The sun was bright, making the shadows darker, so it was hard to see, but for a second he made out its shape. A small panther? No, a jackal or some other dog-like animal, mostly dark colored but with lighter touches here and there. Then it dissolved away into the shadows, the way wild creatures were so good at doing. Oh well. Likely nothing to bother about right now. He had more imminent problems.
The ghost army was already on high alert. Tab had received the message and told their spirit generals, Rhea and Sanjay, to assemble the volunteers. Adrian spent a couple of hours walking round the Underworld, consulting the armed souls and stationing groups of them in various parts of the cave, since, trouble was, they didn’t know where exactly Thanatos would pop in, assuming they could switch realms at all. And if they couldn’t, he was wasting his time here, which was bloody annoying when he could be back in the Airstream getting deliciously naked with Sophie. He had a lot of lost time to make up for on that front.
Texts flew back and forth among the group as the day ticked by. Niko, Freya, and Zoe followed Krystal and Tracy, and reported they were getting closer to Diros. So far they couldn’t see any armed people forming up to attack in a group, but such people were probably hiding so as to keep the local police from noticing. Tab stayed at the trailers with Sophie and Liam, where all of them were going mad with the need to know what was happening and the desire to help.
Late in the evening, Niko reported: They seem settled for now. 2 different rooms in Areopoli. Maybe to sleep and do nothing tonight? But can’t count on that.
Areopoli was just a short drive north of Diros Caves. This did not bode well.
Any of you able to stay on them all night? Adrian texted to Niko, Freya, and Zoe—whom, he well knew, already had been out pretty much all of last night keeping tabs on the enemy. I want to stay near the Underworld, he added. Guarding that was, after all, the top priority. And his ghost army, though unnerving, wasn’t undefeatable. Knock the knives off their hands and you could zip right past them—or through them.
Freya and I will stay here, Niko answered a few minutes later. Zoe’s coming back to help you. That’s where our best magic should go.
Cheers, mates, Adrian responded. I’ll go back to the trailers for now, but get me the second anything happens.
Will do, Zoe answered.
He returned to Sophie’s grateful arms, and took shelter in them, and in her delicious cooking—because evidently when she was stressed and had a kitchen at her disposal, she tended to cook. “That or I garden,” she explained, setting enchiladas, tossed salad, and freshly blended fruit juice on the table for Liam, Adrian, Tab, and herself.
Since Niko and Freya continued to report quiet on the Thanatos front, Adrian gave in to Sophie’s entreaty to get some rest that night. He had just dozed off in the quiet Airstream when his phone buzzed him awake again. He grabbed it and squinted at the bright screen.
It was 1:00 a.m. and Niko’s message said, They’re mobilizing. F & I will try to stop them before they get anywhere.
“Bloody hell.” Adrian scrambled out of bed.
Sophie, already awake, scrambled out after him. They stood shaking with alarm, staring at each other.
“Time for me to go,” he said.
“Oh, Goddess,” she whispered.
“Listen.” He cupped her face in both hands. “Tab will come with me, but I’ll leave Kiri here to guard you and Liam. Do not move from here.”
“You can’t tell me that! There has to be something we can do.”
He shook his head, trying to look stoic, though fear was shooting through him and numbing every part of his body. “After everything you’ve been through because of us, please, no. Sit this one out.” He forced his mouth into a smile. “Once you’re immortal, then you can fight alongside us.”
“The Underworld is mine too. You said so. I want to protect it.”
“It is yours, as much as it’s mine or anyone’s, but it is not the safe place for you tonight. Please. Do as I’m asking.”
She had a mutinous set to her jaw, but nodded. They dressed and went outside, just as Liam and Tab were leaping down the steps from the neighboring trailer, flashlight apps on their phones lighting their way.
Terry and Isabel’s souls were hanging out here too, as they often did lately, tied by the waist on long ropes even though they said they’d probably be able to stay here by will alone.
“What about calling the local police and having them come to the caves?” Sophie said. “We can at least do that without getting hurt.”
“Yes. Do that.” Adrian kissed her again. Gratitude that she was thinking of good rational ideas made a tiny spark of light in the midst of his uneasy darkness. He looked at Tab, then around at the windy night. “Well. Let’s be off.”
“I love you,” Sophie said before letting go of him.
“Love you too.” He tried to tell himself this was better than last time, because at least Sophie wasn’t in so much danger…but the rest of them might be about to meet a lot more danger, if the worst of their fears were true. He stepped back and looked his dog in the eyes. “Kiri, stay with Sophie. Guard her.”
Kiri settled her bum closer to Sophie’s feet, but kept her eyes on Adrian, and gave one of her unhappy snorts.
Tab hugged Liam and Sophie, then trotted after Adrian toward the tree where their spirit horses were tied up. “Let’s ride.”
Just after he mounted his horse, he looked back once more at Sophie, who gazed after him with sorrow and worry in her eyes. He prayed this wouldn’t be the last time they saw each other on the same side of the life-death divide. Then he and Tab took off, and within a minute or two were plunging into the Underworld.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Okay, we’re going to obey for a minute,” Sophie informed her brother, as she did a quick search on her phone for the Greek equivalent of 911. Finding it, she dialed, and told the answering operator, in a mishmash of English and her messed-up ancient-flavored modern Greek, essentially: “Hi, my brother and I were out for a late drive, and we saw a bunch of people trying to get into Diros Caves after hours. I’m pretty sure they had guns or explosives or something. I’m not sure what they’re going to do, but it didn’t look legal.”
The operator asked a few follow-up questions about when this happened and how many people there were, to which Sophie made up her best guess at answers, (Just five minutes ago, and maybe twenty people.) They thanked her, told her the police were on their way, and advised her to keep out of the way since she was currently in no danger and they’d like her to stay that way.
She thanked them too, hung up, and looked at Liam. He was practically twitching in excitement. She regarded her glowing parents too, who listened and watched with mild concern.
“But we’re going to do more than that, right?” Liam said.
“Oh, hell yeah,” Sophie said. “That is my goddamn orchard, my gardens they’re trying to blow up down there. We are not letting that happen.”
Liam was already nodding in vigorous approval. “But how would we get there?”
Sophie looked at her parents again. “We have two souls who’ll get pulled straight to the Underworld. All we’ve got to do is hold onto the other end of the vine.”
“Then you’d walk?” her dad said. “At night?”
“Sure. It’s only a couple of miles. You can see the cliff from here, when it’s light.”
“I’m up for that,” Liam said.
“Through the forest, with the animals?” her mother said.
“Why not?” Sophie glanced down at Kiri. “We have an immortal beast to scare them off, or protect us if it comes to that.”
“What about weapons?” Liam was bouncing up and down on his big, sneakered feet.
“We’ve each got a stun gun, right? Let’s take those and anything else we can find.” She smiled at her parents. “We’ll strap knives onto your hands too, so you can start your ghost-army duties right away.”
Her mother saluted, eyes twinkling. “At your service.”
“Let’s get armed up.”
Sophie fetched the stun guns and four knives—two from the kitchen, which she tied onto her parents’ hands, and one combat knife apiece for herself and Liam, left over from the ghost-army stash. When she tucked her stun gun into her sweatshirt pocket, it crunched against drying leaves and fruits and twigs—the plant bits she had picked while walking in the Underworld with Adrian. She pulled out one of the hard fruits: a purple olive from a massive tree that was likely thousands of years old, too large for her to move, though she’d transferred smaller saplings into pots. When eaten, these olives had the amusing but mostly useless property of making you able to command dogs in their own language of yips and barks. She remembered, as Persephone, laughing riotously with Hades over it when they discovered its powers.
She glanced down at Kiri, who watched her. Maybe this olive wouldn’t be so useless tonight after all.
But not for Rosie this time. She was still a mortal dog, and Sophie and Liam had no intention of putting her in danger. They petted her and reassured her, and shut her inside Liam’s trailer with some extra food and water.
Sophie tried not to think about the possibility that they might not be able to come back for her.
***
“Goodness, a little late for a cave tour, isn’t it?”
The cheerful voice made Tracy turn abruptly, interrupted in the midst of packing one of the cars’ trunks full of weapons. It was the middle of the night in the small city of Areopoli and no one should have been wandering the streets, let alone remarking on a cave tour when they weren’t even at the caves yet. Besides that, Tracy was under a glamour and shouldn’t have been noticeable. This was clearly an enemy, then, and a cheeky one at that.
Even before he got a good look at the stranger under the weak street lamp, three of his half-dozen companions leveled their guns at the man. The bloke gamely stopped and raised both hands. Then he vanished as if he’d been nothing but an illusion.
“Bugger,” Tracy said. “He’s one of them.”
“Yeah, I think I remember that dude,” Krystal growled.
“Don’t worry,” Tenebra said, beside him. “I am ready.”
A good thing she was, because a second later someone materialized right up against Tracy’s back and latched an astonishingly strong arm around his throat.
“Let’s put all the guns and explosives away and go home, friends,” the stranger said, “or that’s it for your dear leader here.”
Tracy made a gesture at them to obey, and they all grudgingly dropped their guns—but only because they knew what would come next.
“Sormajhaturm,” Tenebra pronounced.
The body holding Tracy spasmed, tightening around his neck for a painful second. Then the bloke went limp and slid to the ground.
Rubbing his throat, Tracy turned round and prodded his toe against the fellow’s side. Young, tall, fit, handsome. Dead. How wonderful.
An enraged shriek tore through the air, and some golden-haired woman shot out of nowhere and slammed into Tracy like a wildcat. They crashed to the ground. He tussled with her a mere few seconds, amazed at her strength and intoxicated by her sultry perfume, before Tenebra repeated the death curse.
“Sormajhaturm.”
The woman’s body jerked, and she choked in one last breath. Then she wilted on top of Tracy in an armful of warm curvy flesh. A shame to have killed this one, he thought, when he rolled her over and found her face as stunning as her body. But…
“Thank you,” he told Tenebra, while still gazing down at the mysterious blonde. “She was likely one of them too.”
“So the curse does work on them.” Krystal grinned, resting her gun’s barrel on her shoulder. “Fuckin’ A!” She kicked the dead man. “Yep, that’s the bastard who did Quentin in and screwed everything up that night. Got you now, you fucker.”
“What should we do with them?” one of their hired guns asked.
Tracy regarded the two beautiful dead immortals. “Let’s bring them along. If we meet their friends, I expect the sight of these bodies could prove quite demoralizing.”
***
“I suppose, now that you can’t lie,” Hekate said to Hermes’ soul, “I should take advantage of it and ask you a few things.”
It had been three days since Ares’ attack on the Underworld and the destruction of the chrysomelia trees. Hekate and the other survivors were settling into a new dismal version of normal as best they could. Finally today a quiet moment presented itself, with Hekate and Hermes walking together on one of the winding paths between pale grassy hills, Eleusis wrapped snug against her back.
“Ask away,” Hermes said. “Strange thing about being a soul. I don’t hate having to tell the truth the way I would when I’m alive.”
She licked her lips, unsure where to begin. “I’m not sure I actually want to ask about other lovers.”
“Ah. Those. Of course I had several, even while I was with you. You did too. We agreed we should.”
She nodded, keeping her face composed, though a needle of jealousy stabbed at her.
“But,” he added gently, “there’s no one I ever loved as much as you.”
She swallowed against the lump in her throat, grief and happiness rising there in an odd mix. “Then why all the resistance to being my husband? Or the father of my child?”
“Mainly because I felt I didn’t deserve you. You’re worlds too good for me, Lady Hekate. I knew someday you’d realize it and get tired of me, and that would hurt too much. So I played the games I knew how to play, to keep you interested.”
“The hard-to-get games? The I’m-so-mysterious games?”
“Yes, essentially. It wasn’
t always kind, and I regret that. But it worked, so I kept at it.”
“Not good enough for me?” she said. “That’s ridiculous. I’m a mess. I’m strange and difficult in a hundred ways. It would take the best person in the world to put up with me for as long as you did.”
“Nonsense. You’re the treasure of the Earth. I only wish I had treated you better, loved you more—or no, since I couldn’t possibly have loved you more, I wish I had let you know it more, that’s all.”
Hekate wiped a tear off each cheek with the knuckle of her thumb. “Well. That’s all right. The way you did it, the mystery and games, did make it alluring, just as you intended. Maybe neither of us is cut out for a sedate, reliable marriage.”
“I don’t think we are. But love as wild and powerful as—as that infernal volcano? That we can manage.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
Zoe had put on a bulletproof vest from their new armory of equipment, as had Tab and Adrian, and they had tucked helmets under their arms. That would help, but it wasn’t foolproof. Nor were her wards, but she was pacing around shoring them up anyway.
She stopped near the river, and frowned toward the entrance tunnel when the spirit essence of two of her friends intruded on her senses. Why in the Goddess’ name were Niko and Freya returning? They were supposed to be staying on top of Thanatos!
Two souls detached themselves from the perpetual influx of the dead over the river and soared to her. As she recognized them, she reached out a useless hand, and moaned in agony. Grief froze her tongue.
They settled in front of her.
“Be careful, love,” Niko’s soul said. “They’ve got magic, all right.”
“A very powerful sorcerer,” Freya’s soul added. “Some woman. I don’t know what else she’s capable of, but she was able to do this.”
“Zoe?” Adrian called from somewhere behind her. “Are Niko and Freya here? What are…” He stopped as he spotted their souls. Then he roared toward somewhere farther off in the cave, “Tab! Tab, get here now.”
